


Does Human Imitate Ferret Or Does Ferret Imitate Human?

by AsagiStilinski



Series: Yuri!!! Down Under [6]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Australia, Animals Wearing Clothes, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Character's Name Spelled as Yuri, Established Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Established Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky, Established Relationship, Ferrets, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, M/M, Minor Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, pet baths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23373949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Yuri thinks it's a great idea to put clothes on the ferrets as they recover from being neutered, rather than The Cone Of ShameOtabek isn't sure how to process the fact that the ferrets seem to like it
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Otabek Altin/Yuri Plisetsky
Series: Yuri!!! Down Under [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1638880
Comments: 6
Kudos: 48





	Does Human Imitate Ferret Or Does Ferret Imitate Human?

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of a timeskip here, wherein Yuri (Plisetsky) has his adopted ferrets, Viktor and Yuri, to find out how he came to have them, and for more about "Yuri!!! Down Under", visit our Tumblr, where you can find art, headcanons, and more! https://madaliceproductions.tumblr.com/

"Awwwwww! Beka, look at them."

Otabek was looking at them. He was looking at them, and all he could think was, _"I'm so sorry you have to live this way.”_ In front of him sat two ferrets, buttoned up in some sort of modified doll clothing; slim long shirts that stretched past their bellies but didn't quite cover their little butts, and—far worse—frilly little dresses over top of said shirts.

Viktor's was pink. Yuri's was purple.

Otabek was sure this was asking for some kind of "animal cruelty" charge. Their little faces practically screamed humiliation, but it’s possible he was projecting, and the ferrets didn't actually care.

"I think this is a much better solution than The Cone Of Shame. Don't you?" Yura hummed, evidently oblivious to Otabek's hesitation.

"Sure, if it works," he agreed—because Otabek had never been an unreasonable man. "But I have to ask … You already have them in the little shirts. What's the point of the dresses?"

"Well, I know they can just chew through the shirts or push them up if they fuss with them enough. The dresses add an extra layer of protection against that. They'll have to go through the dresses before they can get to the shirts."

Otabek kind of hated to admit it, but that was a pretty sound argument. But still, the ferrets looked like a seven-year-old's handiwork, and there was just something about it that seemed tragic.

"How long will their stitches be in again?"

"About a week. Not too long." Yura reached down and scratched both the ferret’s heads, grinning in delight as they nudged into his hands for more.

Otabek just hummed, head tilting as he stared at the ferrets. They didn't seem too unhappy, he supposed. A week wearing clothes couldn't be too difficult for them to deal with, right?

~+~

Stretching out lazily, Otabek yawned, being mindful of the animals. He didn’t want to risk accidentally kicking one of them or rolling over and crushing one of them. He couldn't remember the last time he slept in a bed that didn't contain a tiny furry friend. Even before moving to Australia, they'd had Potya. And now they had the ferret twins—Yuri and Viktor. Otabek didn't really mind. He liked animals. He just had to be careful.

Shifting a little, he sighed when he realized Potya had curled up to sleep on top of his legs, as she often did. He tried to move gently so as not to disturb her, but within seconds of his twitching—Yep, there she went. Stumbling off of him and slumping over to stretch out on the other side of the bed.

"Well, I'm sorry to have disturbed you." Otabek wasn't even bitter about it. He just legitimately wished he hadn't bothered the cat.

Sitting up, he ran his fingers through his hair and yawned again, doing a quick scan of the bed. Potya was asleep. Yuri was asleep. Yura and Viktor were gone—Yura and Viktor were gone!

Panicked, he immediately picked up Yuri and pressed the ferret to his ear. Yep, heart was still beating, and he was starting to squirm, so he was clearly still alive. That did little to calm Otabek, though, as he leapt out of bed and ran downstairs.

"Yura! Yura, come quick! Something is wrong with Yuri!"

"What!?" Peeling out of the kitchen, spatula still in his hand, the blonde raced towards them, the silver ferret on the ground following. Yura handed Otabek the spatula and took Yuri in exchange. "What are you talking about, Beka? He looks fine..."

"He was sleeping on the bed without Viktor."

"Oh... yeah, I noticed that earlier. I thought something was wrong at first, too, but apparently not." Yura shrugged, setting Yuri on the floor and chuckling when Viktor immediately bowled him over to lick him and snuggle. "I think it's the clothes. Animals like having tight things around them. It's very calming. Maybe the shirt helps his anxiety."

"You mean like one of those thunder vest things?"

"Apparently."

Otabek wasn't sure what to make of that. Having Yuri around was still new. They only officially brought him home after he and Viktor had gotten neutered, but Otabek met him several times before and the ferret was always an anxious mess, only ever calm when Viktor was around and screaming bloody murder when he wasn't. There was never a moment with that ferret where he was even remotely calm or content unless Viktor was practically on top of him.

"Do you think this could be a permanent solution?"

"Could be. We'll have to wait and see."

"Well, I hope it helps," Otabek mused as he and Yura moved back into the kitchen to finish breakfast, the ferrets still snuggling in the hall. Yuri's attachment to his little playmate might have been cute on the outside, but he must really be suffering to have such an extreme reaction to being away from his mate. "I can't imagine what kind of hell it must be to live with your own mind constantly attacking you, always feeling like the world is collapsing around you except under weirdly specific circumstances, never getting any relief from the mental anguish—"

\--

"ACHOO!"

"Bless you, zolotse. You alright?"

"Y-Yeah..." Yuri muttered, nose wrinkling. "That just came outta nowhere."

"Maybe somebody is talking about you," Viktor teased, stepping closer to his boyfriend and wrapping him in a hug.

"Sure," Yuri snorted, rolling his eyes. "Like anybody has a reason to talk about me."

~+~

"Stop being a little bitch. It's your own fault for rolling around in the flour." 

One pitfall of ferret parenthood Yura hadn't quite managed to master yet was the fact that ferrets could escape-artist themselves out of absolutely anything. The baby gate Yura always had up to keep Potya from the kitchen when he was cooking or baking had done little to deter the two determined ferrets, who had gotten their stitches out two weeks prior and yet hadn't shed the clothes.

Well, Viktor was now sans shirt, happy to frolic around the house in a little doll dress that Otabek still insisted just seemed wrong somehow, and Yuri was apparently happier than ever in the clothes, which seemed to keep his anxiety mostly at bay. 

Too bad that happiness was about to come to a screeching halt.

With Viktor out of the dress and in the bathtub, Yura moved on to the far more hair-raising task of undressing Yuri, the little cinnamon-colored ferret seemingly none the wiser. He peered over the edge of the bathtub at his considerably less happy looking partner as the larger silver ferret was tugged away and placed under the faucet by Otabek. Yura muttered a prayer in Russian before snatching up Yuri and tugging the dress off of him, followed by the shirt—

Yuri shrieked.

"Oh my god." Yura sighed. Yuri squirmed, crying as he kicked his little legs, suddenly desperate to be right next to Viktor. "What happened in your life to make you this way? I know your namesakes weren't unkind to you." Yura huffed as he set the ferret in the water, shaking his head as the little creature scampered across the tub, kicking water into the humans' faces. He crashed into Viktor and flopping around with him, the silver ferret having successfully squirmed out of Otabek's grip. Yura just shook his head, still in disbelief.

The human Viktor and Yuri may be annoying as hell, but he knew they would both cut off limbs without hesitation to improve the life of an animal. He knew within reason nothing terrible happened to the ferret—who had been born in the same litter as the rest of Katsuki's "grandkits"—and yet, he was the only one who seemed to struggle.

"Do you think animals have mental illnesses like people?" Otabek grabbed the shampoo from the side of the tub.

"I don't know about that, Beka. I mean, I know they can suffer mental side-effects from trauma, but in-born disorders? I've never heard of that. Doesn't make it impossible, but..." But it would make it weird.

Very weird.

"Too bad animal psychologists aren't a thing," Otabek mused as he grabbed Viktor. He winced at the shrill crying Yuri gave in the brief moment between Otabek picking up Viktor and Yura picking up Yuri.

"Better not mention that to Katsuki. He'll find some way to make it a thing." Yura huffed, rolling his eyes as he placed Yuri under the faucet, sighing in relief as he finally quieted now that he was pressed against Viktor again. "I swear to god, those two are almost as attached as their namesakes."

"Don't you mean their namesakes are almost as attached as they are?" Otabek reasoned as he started to rinse shampoo from Viktor's fur. 

"You have met the human versions, right?"

Luckily, the rest of the bath went off without a hitch, the drying process also going outstandingly well since they made an effort to dry both ferrets off with the same towel. Evidently, the tightness and pressure of the towel around them helped aid Yuri's anxiety enough that he rested his head on top of Viktor's and started to doze off.

"Beka, could you get me their clothes? I'll have to wash them before we can dress them again." Nodding silently, Otabek rose and stepped over to where the clothes were… but he halted and turned pale. Yura glanced over his shoulder, frowning. "Beka?"

"Yura... there's a problem..." With a cringe clear on his face, Otabek turned around, holding up the little white shirt Yuri usually wore... which was thoroughly shredded.

"Oh, Potya! No!" Yura groaned, then looked down at Yuri, wincing. The little ferret seemed to know that something was wrong. His eyes shimmered as though he were about to cry.

"What do you want me to do?" Otabek asked, trying to be helpful.

"Go to the toy store and buy more doll clothes."

Otabek nodded as Yuri started nudging at Viktor again, little chirps of affection and wanting of attention coming from the smaller ferret. He hadn't expected to spend his Saturday afternoon bathing ferrets and then finding a toy store to hunt down ferret sized doll clothes, but here he was.

He supposed this was just another example of the golden rule of ferrets—expect the unexpected.


End file.
